Einstein’s ‘God Letter’ sells at auction for nearly $3 million

(JTA) — A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein on religion, his Jewish identity and his search for meaning in life was sold at auction for nearly $3 million — more than seven times the amount from a decade ago.

Einstein wrote what was dubbed “The God Letter” to philosopher Eric Gutkind, in 1954. It sold Tuesday at Christie’s for $2,892,500, nearly doubling the estimated sale price.

“The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends,” Einstein wrote.

“For me the unadulterated Jewish religion is, like all other religions, an incarnation of primitive superstition,” the letter also said. “And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and in whose mentality I feel profoundly anchored, still for me does not have any different kind of dignity from all other peoples.

In 2008, the letter was sold at auction to a private collector for $404,000.